Jim
Member
Today it was over 95 degrees with a 105 heat index here in S.C. needless to say my rabbits that live in hutches are not liking the recent weather.
I have found a way to give them some relief by adding frozen 1 gallon milk jugs of water to their pens starting at about 11 am and leaving them in till after sunset when the weather finally cools down.
I just removed them at 1130 pm and still had small amounts of ice still in them .
I also placed small frozen water bottles in with those that have water dishes and not bottle water feeders . Some of the rabbits had already figured out to sit in their water dishes prior ,when they get hot.
If you have extra water bottles that you can freeze for the water bottles that hang would help as well. Just remember not to fill all the way to the top of the bottles before you freeze them as they will expand and could burst your bottles.
Good luck to everyone with this heat and I hope this info helps to save some bunnies life from this extreme heat.
On a side note my doe with 3 week old kits ,her and the kits figured it out in less than an hour that all they have to do is lay next to the bottles to keep cool.I just placed them nest to where mom likes to lay and she positioned it where "she " wanted it to be .You may want to try placing it inside your hutch boxes also .I left mine out in the open so they can get a breeze as well.
I have found a way to give them some relief by adding frozen 1 gallon milk jugs of water to their pens starting at about 11 am and leaving them in till after sunset when the weather finally cools down.
I just removed them at 1130 pm and still had small amounts of ice still in them .
I also placed small frozen water bottles in with those that have water dishes and not bottle water feeders . Some of the rabbits had already figured out to sit in their water dishes prior ,when they get hot.
If you have extra water bottles that you can freeze for the water bottles that hang would help as well. Just remember not to fill all the way to the top of the bottles before you freeze them as they will expand and could burst your bottles.
Good luck to everyone with this heat and I hope this info helps to save some bunnies life from this extreme heat.
On a side note my doe with 3 week old kits ,her and the kits figured it out in less than an hour that all they have to do is lay next to the bottles to keep cool.I just placed them nest to where mom likes to lay and she positioned it where "she " wanted it to be .You may want to try placing it inside your hutch boxes also .I left mine out in the open so they can get a breeze as well.